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 The United Kingdom, which has the biggest official death toll in
Europe from COVID-19, is grappling with more than 20,000 new
coronavirus cases a day and scientists have warned the "worst case"
scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded.
Cast by his supporters as the godfather of the movement to quit the
European Union, Brexit Party founder Nigel Farage said Johnson had
terrified the United Kingdom into submission over the coronavirus
with a second lockdown.
"The single most pressing issue is the government's woeful response
to coronavirus," Farage and Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice said
in a joint article in The Daily Telegraph, announcing his Reform UK
party.
"Ministers have lost touch with a nation divided between the
terrified and the furious. The debate over how to respond to COVID
is becoming even more toxic than that over Brexit."
Instead of a lockdown, Farage, who as head of the Brexit party
whipped up popular opposition to immigration, proposed targeting
those most a risk, like the sick and the elderly, but said ordinary
people should not be criminalised for trying to live normal lives
such as meeting family for Christmas.
France, Germany, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and other
countries have announced new curbs on movement and gatherings as
infections surge and hospitals and intensive care units fill up.
Small shopkeepers in France have complained about being forced to
close while supermarkets are allowed to sell "non-essential goods"
such as shoes, clothes, beauty products and flowers because they
also sell food.
'DRAMATIC SITUATION'
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday supermarkets will
face the same limits on selling non-essential goods but shopowners
are not allowed to challenge government lockdown rules.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week denounced populists who
argue the coronavirus is harmless as dangerous and irresponsible.
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"We are in a dramatic situation at the start of the cold season. It affects us
all, without exception," Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of parliament,
adding new restrictions to reduce social contact were "necessary and
proportionate".
Protests flared against new restrictions across Italy last week, with violence
reported in Milan and Turin.
More than 46.37 million people have been infected globally and 1,198,168 have
died, according to a Reuters tally. The United States, which holds a highly
polarised presidential election on Tuesday, leads the world with more than 9
million cases and 230,700 deaths.
World shares recovered from one-month lows on Monday as upbeat Chinese data
offset new lockdowns in Europe, while investors prepared for more volatility
arising from the U.S. election.
U.S. President Donald Trump has continually downplayed the virus, mocking
Democratic challenger Joe Biden for wearing a mask and social distancing at
campaign rallies, a tactic which enlivens his base supporters but infuriates his
opponents.
Trump has also ridiculed his top coronavirus task force adviser, Anthony Fauci,
who has contradicted Trump's assertions that the U.S. fight against the virus is
"rounding the turn".
“We're in for a whole lot of hurt. It’s not a good situation," Fauci told The
Washington Post on Friday. "All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you
go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors.
You could not possibly be positioned more poorly."
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by
Giles Elgood)
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